June 2012

June 07, 2012

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan raved about him to reporters on Wednesday, saying, “I’m seeing a real player now.”

And Thursday, executive vice president Stephen Jones said in a radio interview that Carter is neck-and-neck with veteran Dan Connor for a starting spot opposite Sean Lee.

“Bruce is going to be a mainstay for us, regardless of whether he starts or not, in our dime defense and playing that nickel linebacker,” Jones told KTCK “The Ticket” 1310 AM. “He’s going to be a handful. One of the things that has really stuck out in this camp is what a great coverage guy he is.”

Connor hasn’t been able to work in the OTAs because of a shoulder injury, so Carter has taken every snap with the first team. It has helped him make an impression on Ryan.

“He’s the guy we thought he was when we drafted him,” Ryan said. “Obviously, it takes a little while, especially playing inside linebacker in this league, with all of the work he did on the outside in college. It’s been a long transition, but he’s learning every day, and we’re real excited about his progress.”

Carter said he wanted to play more than he did last year, and earlier than he did, after becoming active following a nearly year-long rehab from knee surgery.

In the long term, he said the Cowboys were right to be patient with him.

“I kind of agree, from learning what I know now, from last year,” Carter said. “It’s kind of like night and day. There’s a whole lot you’ve got to learn. It’s just step by step, piece by piece. I kind of agree with what they were doing with me last year.”

The Cowboys knew they’d have to wait out the knee injury. But the talent level of Carter was never in doubt, Jones said.

“That was going to be a tough thing to swallow while he was getting better, but he’s got first-round talent, first-round skills,” Jones said in the radio interview. “He really is playing well. He really has taken Sean Lee’s lead in his work ethic and the things he’s doing in the classroom, and he really is making an impression on everybody. He’s maybe one of the more skilled inside linebackers that we have had in Dallas since I’ve been here, as far as skills are concerned. We’ll see if he turns into a football player or not, but he is a really gifted young man.”

DeMarco Murray doesn’t want to talk about his surgically repaired ankle or any of his past injuries. They are behind him.

The Cowboys running back, though, won’t deny he still has a chip on his shoulder.

“The approach is the same,” said Murray, who led all rookies with 897 yards despite missing the final three games. “At the end of the day, I’m still the… sixth running back taken last year, third-round pick, looked over by many, and I’m still working to get better. I’m not a veteran. I haven’t been here for many years, so I’m trying to work hard every day and prove to myself that I belong here.”

Murray, who fractured his right ankle in a December game against the Giants, has looked like himself again in the team’s organized team activities. He hopes to be even better after a fourth off-season of doing mixed martial arts.

Murray will travel home to Las Vegas to work with former classmate Lorenzo Fertitta after the team’s minicamp next week.

“I was doing it for a month and a half, and once I got the feel, my legs were fresher,” Murray said. “The reps and just the flexibility and hand-eye coordination, [help with] catching the ball. It’s a huge factor.”

In past years, the Cowboys ended organized team activities with paintball, bowling and fishing. This time, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett decided to do something more substantial.

The Cowboys hosted their first Dallas Cowboys U high school football camp for 160 underserved student-athletes in the area, with a seven-on-seven tournament ending Thursday morning's activities. Tight end Jason Witten's team beat offensive tackle Doug Free's team in the final.

"It’s a collective idea," Garrett said. "It’s something very similar to what I’ve done with my wife and our foundation up at Princeton for a lot of years now. That’s the format we used. I’ve been on a lot of teams as a player and as a coach and typically the last day of OTAs we do a lot of different, creative things. …We decided to do this instead. We think it’s really good for a lot of different reasons. The chemistry and camaraderie on our football team first and foremost, but then to reach out in the community and get these very deserving kids to come out and have a day that they’ll never forget, interact with our players, have a fun day, teach them about football and maybe teach them about some life skills as well. I think it’s a win-win for everybody, and I think everybody embraced the opportunity."

The other head coaches for the tournament were Tony Romo, Gerald Sensabaugh, Jay Ratliff, DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Sean Lee and Miles Austin. They drafted their assistant coaches Thursday morning.

"I think Jason [Garrett] has a great sense of understanding that when much is given, much is expected," Romo said. "I think he wants to give back to the community and give back to some people who at different times could use it. It’s a great way to get out here, and not just for the kids but for our football team, so it’s great to see."

"Well, these plays are getting a little wet. The rain got on them," Witten said of his play sheets. "They crumbled up on me. But don’t think they’re not going to be on coach Garrett’s desk by the morning. Hold onto those. I’ve got a few plays up my sleeve. It definitely fun to be able to do that. It provides a different perspective to be a coach."

The winning team received trophies, and Witten said it means as much as any award he's won.

"I’ll hold this trophy and keep in the house for sure," Witten said. "A lot of bragging rights with 80 other men in that locker room."

Free's team lost by a touchdown after being down three scores in the 20-minute game that had a running clock.

"He was rolling good. I ain't going to lie," Free said of Witten. "He had a good thing going. We started off a little slow but came back pretty strong at the end. Just lost by a score, so we came back and made a play for it. I’m really proud of my guys for coming back after being down a couple scores. You could have easily shut it down."

The second-year veteran won a five-man competition for the job last year. In training camp, he beat out the previous year’s kicker, David Buehler, plus veterans Dave Rayner and Shayne Graham. Another kicker, Kai Forbath, never came off the injured list.

But now here he is, alone and, presumably, with the Cowboys’ full confidence. Will that allow him to relax in training camp, knowing he has secured the team’s confidence after making 32 of 37 kicks as an undrafted rookie?

“Honestly, I’m just going to try to approach it the same way,” he said Wednesday after an OTA practice at Valley Ranch. “You can’t take a day off. That’s the nature of the league. I’m going to do what I did last year and focus on what I need to do to be 100 percent at my position, whether that’s on kickoffs or field goals or whatever. I just need to go out there and go 1-for-1. I just need to focus on that and pick up where I left off last year.”

Where he left off last year wasn’t so great.

The former Groza Award winner from Oklahoma State had four misses (one blocked) in nine attempts over the final five games.

But he had started so well. He made 27 of his first 28 kicks, including 26 in a row, despite a switch in holders from Mat McBriar to Tony Romo and back to McBriar.

“Obviously, the end of my season didn’t go exactly how I planned,” he said. “At the same time, you can learn from that. There were a lot of things that happened last year, different holders and stuff. It’s all really water under the bridge now. It’s not an excuse. I just can learn from all that stuff and kind of take it into this next year. I feel like I’m that much more prepared for what happens this year.”

Bailey said he can look at one game, now and always, for experience on how to handle the ups and downs of kicking. In Week 2 against San Francisco, he missed a 21-yard field goal. But he made a 48-yard kick to force overtime, then won the game in overtime with a 19-yard kick.

“That was definitely a rollercoaster game for myself,” he said. “For me, a missed kick like that is pretty much the low of the low, and then having a kick to tie the game and send it to overtime is pretty much the most pressure you can have as a kicker. I had them both in one game. It was good to know how both felt. I wouldn’t necessarily want it to happen again. But I definitely learned a lot in that game. It helped me mentally prepare later on last season, and then obviously for the rest of my career, I can go back to that game and remember what that felt like.”

DeMarcus Ware has had double-digit sacks each of the past six seasons. There is no question he is among the best at sacking the quarterback.

But each of the past two seasons he has had a career-low two forced fumbles. He had six forced fumbles in 2008 when he led the league with 20 sacks.

“You always want to get out there and make the plays that you can make, but in key situations it’s not all about the sacks,” Ware said. “It’s about interceptions. The main thing is getting a turnover. …This year, we’re really harping on getting turnovers, getting the ball back for our offense, and we go through this number chart of if you get one turnover a game, if you get two turnovers a game, if you get three turnovers a game and how that affects the outcome of the game. So we’re all about the turnovers.”

Ware has been criticized for not making enough game-changing plays last season. He calls his critics "haters."

“Everybody always talks about me not being there in pressure situations or I’m an overrated player, but every year I’m up there with a lot of the players doing exactly what I do – and that’s sacking the quarterback and being consistent,” said Ware, who has 99.5 career sacks. “It’s all about shutting those people up who are talking …and just doing whatever I can to help the team.”

Ware turns 30 next month, but he is aging well. He said he is smarter than he was seven years ago when the Cowboys made him the No. 11 overall pick. He is eating better and working harder.

His six Pro Bowls and four All-Pro selections haven’t made him complacent, only hungrier.

“DeMarcus Ware is an outstanding football player,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “He does what he does as well as anybody in the National Football League. He’s a very, very talented guy. But more so than that, he goes about it the right way. He’s a great competitor. He’s a great worker. He’s a great teammate. He’s a guy that opposing offenses, every time they snap the ball, they have to understand where 94 is.

“Those are rare guys. I think some teams have those kinds of players. I think he’s at the head of the class.”

Kyle Orton could have gone somewhere where he could compete for the starting job. But he chose the Cowboys, where he will backup Tony Romo.

"I thought about it. It was a consideration," Orton said Wednesday in his first comments since joining the Cowboys as a free agent. "But this fit best for me right now."

Orton arguably was the top backup quarterback on the free-agent market. A fourth-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2005, he has gone 35-34 in 69 starts for the Bears, the Broncos and the Chiefs with 14,532 passing yards, 80 touchdowns and 57 interceptions.

"We rated all the free-agent quarterbacks, and he was at the top of our list, but we figured he was in a position where somebody would get him to start," said Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, who coached Orton when both were in Chicago. "I think teams actually did [want him as a starter], but he wanted to be in a defined role. It’s not about lack of competitor or anything like that. He just for peace of mind and where he is in his career. We’re very fortunate to have somebody at that age that has that much experience."

Orton, 29, said he hopes to be a starter again one day. But after signing a three-year, $10.5 million deal with the Cowboys, his role for now is as Romo's backup.

"I’m convinced in my game," Orton said. "There’s no doubt about it. But my only goal right now is to help the Cowboys win."

Dez Bryant said Justin Blackmon is going to get through his off-the-field troubles, but that he must learn to handle the transition from college to the NFL.

“It’s a lesson he’s going to have to learn,” Bryant said Wednesday at Valley Ranch, the same day Blackmon spoke at a news conference in Jacksonville. “He’s going to get through it. I know he is, just because of the type of guy he is. I wish the best for him. He’s going to come through, bounce back, and do what he needs to do.”

Blackmon, taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the fifth pick in the NFL draft this spring, was arrested after a traffic stop over the weekend in Stillwater, Okla. Police say a breath test showed his blood alcohol content to be three times the legal limit.

Blackmon, 22, and Bryant, 23, both played at Oklahoma State, and Bryant had his own troubles going from college to the NFL. Bryant said he has gotten past his own mistakes, including a reported spate of unpaid bills at a jewelry store, but that it is not easy to make the adjustment to a pro lifestyle.

“I feel like things are overwhelming coming straight out of college,” he said. “Trusting someone, seeing who has your best interests. It comes with all of that. When you’re a young guy, and decision-making and what you do, some guys make the right decisions. Some guys make the wrong decisions. And when you make the wrong decision, it’s your choice whether you want to learn from it or not. Making the transition to the NFL is kind of hard, but I feel like, for the most part, people get through it.”

Bryant said he has not yet talked to Blackmon, but that he will check on him soon.

“He is a great guy. If you knew him, you would be like – I can’t believe it,” Bryant said.

June 06, 2012

Running back DeMarco Murray doesn't want to talk about his now-healed ankle or any of his other injuries. He feels good, even after an inadvertant collision with linebacker Sean Lee during Wednesday's OTA.

Lee hit Murray on a pass near the goal line in seven-on-seven drills. Murray hit the ground.

“It’s the NFL,” Murray said. “Sean Lee didn’t try to hit me. We were both going pretty fast. We both tried to stop. I tried to make a cut underneath him. He was going so fast. He played it really, really well and we just kind of ran into each other.”

Murray appears fully recovered from a fractured right ankle that ended his season in December and required surgery. He rushed for 897 yards on 164 carries and scored two touchdowns, with only Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill and Emmitt Smith rushing for more yards as rookies.

When defensive coordinator Rob Ryan watched his secondary last season, he saw a secondary without confidence.

He already sees a different attitude this year.

"Right now, I think there is a comfort level that we never had last year," Ryan said Wednesday after the Cowboys' eighth OTA practice. "Guys are starting to understand the defense more."

The Cowboys had two of the worst passing defenses in team history the past two seasons. They gave up 3,906 passing yards last season after allowing 3,894 the previous year. Only the 1983 Cowboys, who allowed 3,928 passing yards, were worse.

Ryan didn't have as much time working with his defense before the 2011 season because of the lockout-shortened season.

"Unfortunately I probably put a little too much in too early [last year]," Ryan said. "By the end of the year, I think we lost some confidence, especially in the secondary. We weren’t challenging receivers like we need to do. Obviously it showed, and it hurt us."

The Cowboys might have more confidence, because they have better players.

Dallas signed Brandon Carr to a five-year, $50.1 million contract in free agency before moving up to sixth overall to draft Morris Claiborne. They will join Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick. The Cowboys also have a new secondary coach in Jerome Henderson, who replaced Dave Campo.

Henderson has had his secondary learning different multiple positions.

"Jerome trains them that way so they can move them all over the place," Ryan said. "That way, you can play them at more spots, and be a better defense."

While No. 21 was still missing from the Cowboys' voluntary OTA practice Wednesday at Valley Ranch, the Cowboys expect cornerback Mike Jenkins to report next week for the mandatory minicamp.

"He will be here," Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick said.

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan said he has talked to Jenkins on the phone.

"I called Mike. I like Mike, a hard working kid. He's got great talent," Ryan said. "You've got his number? You call him, too. I think together, we can get him here."

Jenkins, who has been in Florida rehabbing a shoulder injury, requested a trade after the Cowboys signed free-agent Brandon Carr and drafted Morris Claiborne with the No. 6 overall pick.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last week he has no plans to trade Jenkins.

"We anticipate seeing him back here next week," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "He's not missing any on-the-field work by being in Florida. He's getting his rehab done down there. Certainly we want our players around in meetings, understanding the new things we're putting in, going over some of the old things from last year; we think that's a missed opportunity for him."

Jenkins hasn't spoken publicly since his reported trade request. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract.

"I think everyone's situation is different," Ryan said. "I'm not going to farm his land. I don't do all of that crap. But would we like to see him out here? Hell yeah. He's coming off an injury. It's always best to be around the team that has you, so our training staff is up to speed with him. So we're up to speed with him ... he's missing out on a lot."

Jenkins is not expeted to be healthy enough to practice until training camp.